Left to Right: Portland Brown, Juliana Baez and Alyssa Hamade

January 25, 2008

The students at St. Mary High School in Rutherford, N.J. are making a difference. The school has recently started a new club called ACT (Ambassadors for Change in Truth). There are more than 35 members who are dedicating their time to social justice. The club's mission is to educate our student body and the local community regarding the issues, such as poverty, illness, and being aware of human rights across the globe.

The club's first project was to raise money for an SOS Children's Village in the U.S. The organization was started in 1949 by Hermann Gmeiner, an Austrian medical student. Hermann Gmeiner started the program when witnessing the orphaned and abandoned children after World War II.

(To read more about SOS Families, see:www.sos-usa.org)

To do our part in helping the SOS Children's Village, the members of ACT raised money through a "candy-gram" program. The event took place during Christmas time, when students and teachers sent personal messages with Christmas candy canes to classmates and teachers. The club raised approximately $250.00 in two days. The money will feed one orphan in the U.S. for three months. This project was a success and the club plans to continue coming up with new ways to help those around us.